Explained: Why is Sheikh Hasina’s plan to return to Bangladesh contentious?

Bangladesh swiftly rejected a request this week for a new passport from deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 78, who plans to return home in December from self-imposed exile in India. Hasina fled to India in August 2024 after a deadly student-led uprising ended her long tenure in power, which was marked by widespread accusations that she had crushed dissent and dismantled democratic checks and balances. She denies the allegations.

A Bangladeshi court sentenced her to death in November last year for ordering a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2024 that the United Nations estimates killed as many as 1,400 people. A ban imposed after her government's fall prevented her Awami League party from contesting the last general election in February, bringing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to power. Tarique Rahman, the son of Hasina's biggest political rival, Khaleda Zia, is now prime minister.

Rahman himself lived in self-imposed exile in London while Hasina was in power. Months after Hasina fled, the interim government that took office revoked her passport and national identity document.